Passionate about IP! Since June 2003 the IPKat has covered copyright, patent, trade mark, info-tech, privacy and confidentiality issues from a mainly UK and European perspective. The team is Neil J. Wilkof, Annsley Merelle Ward, Nicola Searle, Eleonora Rosati, and Merpel, with contributions from Mark Schweizer. Read, post comments and participate! E-mail the Kats here

The team is joined by Guest Kats Rosie Burbidge, Stephen Jones, Mathilde Pavis, and Eibhlin Vardy, and by InternKats Verónica Rodríguez Arguijo, Hayleigh Bosher, Tian Lu and Cecilia Sbrolli.

Friday, 25 November 2011

Request for information. The decisions of Judge Colin Birss QC in the Patents County Court earlier this year in Dame Vivienne Westwood v Anthony Knight (noted by the IPKat here and here) made fascinating reading. Even more fascinating, for those who browse the UK Intellectual Property Office website in search of excitement and possible decisions for inclusion in the European Trade Mark Reports, is a decision of David Landau, for the Comptroller, in Case O-307/11 which shows that, quite undaunted by his lack of success against Dame Viv, the same Mr K is up to not inconsiderable mischief again. This Kat was wondering whether there might be purr-chance, among his many readers, anyone else who is in dispute with this gentleman. If so, he would be curious to hear from them by email here.

While the UK's Intellectual Property Office is in the Kat's sights, he wants to remind readers that today is the very last day on which they can -- if they so wish -- vote for the Office since it is the only IP contender in this year's Social Media Awards 2011. The IPO has been nominated for "Best use of social media in public sector for Digital Engagement - Independent Review of IP & Growth". Further details can be found here. Says Merpel, please support the IPO, whatever you may personally think of the Hargreaves Review, in relation to which the IPO's case is based.

IPO officials are easy
to spot on Twitter ...

Still with the same Office, the IPO is taking its reputation in its hands and preparing for a real twitterthon next week. There's an event, 'Branding in the Modern Economy 2', coming up next Tuesday, 29 November, at which the cream of the UK's intellectual property administrative elite will be live-tweeting. Says a spokesman for the Office,

"Remember to look out for and use the hashtag #BrandsIP11 to follow the event, or to post us a comment. You will find us on Twitter as @The_IPO (http://twitter.com/The_IPO)"

The IPKat's annual IP Publishers' and Editors' lunch takes place on Wednesday 7 December, 12.30pm till 2.30pm, in the lovely London office of Olswang LLP, 90 High Holborn. This year's guest speaker is Wilhelm Warth (C. H. Beck, Germany) and a good time will be had by all. There is no charge. So far, we have 36 folk signed up but there's room for more. Some naughty people haven't responded to their invitations yet, so they are asked politely to do so. If you think you should have been invited because you are involved in some aspect of IP publishing or editing, please email the IPKat here and let him know.

At the MARQUES Conference in Baveno this year,
a genuine IPKat shares a quiet moment with a furry fake

The IPKat's friend and fellow blogger Howard ("Excess Copyright") Knopf has drawn his attention to the alarming news of allegations that real furs are being passed off as faux fur (here) and that the Humane Society of the United States has filed a legal petition with the Federal Trade Commission, alleging that eleven retailers have falsely labelled or advertised genuine fur fashions as being “faux fur” (here). This causes the IPKat to pause for reflection on the fact that, in England and Wales, the names given to certain commodities (in the most recent case in point, "vodka", and, in previous cases, terms such as "advocaat" and "Swiss chocolate") can be protected by an action for extended passing offeven though no one trader has an exclusive right to the term, since traders who use a term have a shared goodwill in it which is damaged by its wrongful and unjustified use. But would the use of "faux fur" by sellers of real fur be vulnerable to such an action? Here, it's the real product which is passing itself off as the fake, rather than the other way round.

Birds, cats .. and Massimo. Still on the subject of cats, the IPKat has been perusing the list of winners in Italy's TOPLEGAL Awards 2011. He congratulates Bird & Bird on being voted top IP firm -- but there's literally a cat or two among the pigeons since Top Lawyer of the Year is Francesco Gatti of d'Urso > Gatti e Bianchi [Explanation for readers whose linguistic talents are not as wide as those of the IPKat and Merpel: the Italian word for cat is "gatto"; the plural is "gatti"]. Best news of all for this Kat is that top Italian IP Lawyer for 2011 is the charming, erudite Massimo Sterpi (Jacobacci Sterpi Francetti Regoli de Haas & Associates, left), who has contributed so much to the international IP community over the years the Kat has known him.

Note for readers: the IPKat has run out of time to post all the items he'd wanted -- and promised -- to. He still cherishes the hope that he'll be able to get the rest up before the end of the weekend.

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